


It's All My Fault

by TheBardWhoLives



Series: Memories & Dreams [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence - Weirdmageddon, Gen, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25213096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBardWhoLives/pseuds/TheBardWhoLives
Summary: One switch of a backpack can make all the difference in the world. A what-if scenario where Dipper is the one cause the Rift to be broken and bring about Weirdmageddon. How different would that reality be?
Series: Memories & Dreams [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936957
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	1. "A hypothetical and catastrophic event I call Weirdmageddon."

**Author's Note:**

> This fan-fic idea is probably not new, but I owe my attempt to a Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/gravityfalls/comments/hp1avu/if_there_was_dipperland_instead_of_mabeland_what/) by u/busterbrown78. Thank you for inadvertently causing me to be mean to Dipper for these few chapters.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper's day could not be going better, he was able to save Ford, proved himself to be a brilliant and tough kid, and he was going to be staying in Gravity Falls! What could possibly go wrong?

"Ah!" Dipper collapsed to the floor as his sister shot off like the rainbow trailed star on one of her sweaters, snatching a backpack by the door. He was up in an instant and chased after her to the threshold but after all of the UFO shenanigans he was never going to catch up with her. "Mabel, wait! I didn't mean it like that! Mabel, come back!" He tried to assuage her fears, but he felt that he was a pretty crummy brother if he couldn't even do that.

Dipper grabbed the backpack without looking and went down the stairs into Grunkle Ford's lab, coming out of the elevator as Ford was stocking things on the shelf. The old man paused and looked over at his young protege, seeing the defeat on his face. "Let me guess: Mabel didn't take it well?" He said as gently as he could manage but there was a note of resignation to the whims of his niece.

"I don't know, maybe I'm making the wrong decision. I need to think about this." Dipper confided in his idol, something he again felt a failure for being unable to keep bottled up; the doubt.

Ford immediately jumped to keep this thought from settling in, something that had kept him from giving up hope during his thirty year jaunt across the multiverse. "Dipper, right now we need to focus on the mission. Now come on, I've got the glue; hand me the rift and let's make history."

Dipper reached into the backpack and for a brief moment a thought crossed his mind, what if this was Mabel's backpack? However once his fingers felt the slightly humming glass orb he knew it had been a foolish thought. He pulled it out but his sweaty palms from the day's events and his distress caused the orb to slip from his grasp. He dove for it as did Ford; the old man's six fingers spread out, but he was too far and Dipper was too close. His panic caused his hand to swat the containment unit when he meant to catch. The Rift seemed to hang in the air like an ornament; so beautiful but so fragile. The crash a second later sealed one blazing thought in his head, _It's all my fault_. He sees the contents splatter on the floor like a rupture in reality; which it absolutely was. He heard a familiar laugh fill his ears until they felt like they were going to burst. He looked up to see a shadow on the wall peel off and turn brilliant yellow. "We're too late! It's the end of the world..." Ford's voice faltered in defeat.

" **Oh that was way too easy, I was thinking I'd have to use some kind of deception! I had this whole plan lined up but... I just had to rely on you Pinetree!"** Bill Cipher cackled in delight. " **And you too Sixer, you thought you were so clever with your shield, but your beautiful shrine to me let me get a foot in the door, enough to get my prizes and leave.** " With that he snapped his fingers and Dipper passed out.

Dipper then woke up to find the lab engulfed in flames. He didn't know what happened but he knew it had been his fault. He saw his Grunkle Ford lying unconscious on floor, too close to the flames as one leapt off onto the tan coat. Dipper swatted at the fire before realizing he needed to get them out of there. He summoned all of his strength and dragged Ford across the floor to the open elevator. He hit the code to send them back upstairs into another inferno. The exit out of the gift shop was blocked by burning wreckage as he heaved and yanked Ford through the fire and smoke. The black clouds burned his eyes and seared his lungs. He coughed but that only allowed more to enter. He was feeling dizzy but resolute to save Ford. The shack door was seemingly locked but he kicked and slammed into the wood until his body screamed. Finally Ford stumbled over, his coat entirely ablaze as he rammed through the door and onto the porch. Dipper dove out after him, narrowly dodging a beam falling through the second story floor. He got Ford on the dirt outside as the world looked like a nightmare. Nothing was cohesive and seemed to be falling apart and coming back together like TV static. He focused on Ford and pulled off the flaming coat that was clinging to his Grunkle. He saw Journal 3 hit the dirt; partially burned and the pages coming out of it as a torrential wind blew through the melting trees. He rolled Ford onto his back and listened for breathing. He tried to remember the basics of CPR but as he put his hands on Ford's chest the heart inside was long still. Grunkle Ford must have used the last bit of his life to break down the door to save him. "This is all my fault..." Dipper cried and looked at the pages fluttering in the wind. Maybe he could find a way to fix things in the Journal. It had to be the answer. He ran after the pages flying away, trying to catch them all but as soon as he got a handful of them he stumbled over his feet and hit the ground hard. The wind took the pages and ran back into the fire with them; leaving him without a chance. He closed his eyes, wishing that he could fix it.

Dipper then woke up to find the attic engulfed in flames. He didn't know what happened but he knew it had been his fault. He saw his sister Mabel lying unconscious on floor, too close to the flames as one leapt off onto the pink sweater. Dipper swatted at the fire before realizing he needed to get them out of there. He summoned all of his strength and dragged Mabel across the floor to the open door. He half carried her downstairs into another inferno. The doorway out of the house was blocked by burning wreckage as he heaved and yanked Mabel through the fire and smoke. The black clouds burned his eyes and seared his lungs. He coughed but that only allowed more to enter. He was feeling dizzy but resolute to save Mabel. The gift shop door was seemingly locked but he kicked and slammed into the wood until his body screamed. Finally Mabel stumbled over, her sweater entirely ablaze as she rammed through the door and onto the ground. Dipper dove out after her, narrowly dodging the bathtub falling through the second story floor. He got Mabel away to the grass outside as the world looked like a nightmare. Nothing was cohesive and seemed to be falling apart and coming back together like TV static. He focused on Mabel and pulled off the flaming sweater that was clinging to his sister. He saw Journal 3 hit the dirt; partially burned and the pages coming out of it as a torrential wind blew through the melting trees. He rolled Mabel onto her back and listened for breathing. He tried to remember the basics of CPR but as he put his hands on Mabel's chest the heart inside was long still. Mabel must have used the last bit of her life to break down the door to save him. "This is all my fault..." Dipper cried and looked at the pages fluttering in the wind. Maybe he could find a way to fix things in the Journal. It had to be the answer. He ran after the pages flying away, trying to catch them all but as soon as he got a handful of them he stumbled over his feet and hit the ground hard. The wind took the pages and ran back into the fire with them; leaving him without a chance. He closed his eyes, wishing that he could fix it.

Dipper then woke up to find the roof engulfed in flames. He didn't know what happened but he knew it had been his fault. He saw Wendy lying unconscious on section where they hung out, too close to the flames as one leapt off onto the green plaid. Dipper swatted at the fire before realizing he needed to get them out of there. He summoned all of his strength and dragged Wendy to the open hatch. He half carried her down the ladder into another inferno. The exit out of the gift shop was blocked by burning wreckage as he heaved and yanked Wendy through the fire and smoke. The black clouds burned his eyes and seared his lungs. He coughed but that only allowed more to enter. He was feeling dizzy but resolute to save Wendy. The shack door was seemingly locked but he kicked and slammed into the wood until his body screamed. Finally Wendy stumbled over, her shirt and hat entirely ablaze as she rammed through the door and onto the porch. Dipper dove out after her, narrowly dodging a beam falling through the second story floor. He got Wendy on the dirt outside as the world looked like a nightmare. Nothing was cohesive and seemed to be falling apart and coming back together like TV static. He focused on Wendy and pulled off the flaming over shirt and hat that was clinging to his summer crush’s body. He saw Journal 3 hit the dirt; partially burned and the pages coming out of it as a torrential wind blew through the melting trees. He rolled Wendy onto her back and listened for breathing. He tried to remember the basics of CPR but as he put his hands on Wendy's chest the heart inside was long still. Wendy must have used the last bit of her life to break down the door to save him. "This is all my fault..." Dipper cried and looked at the pages fluttering in the wind. Maybe he could find a way to fix things in the Journal. It had to be the answer. He ran after the pages flying away, trying to catch them all but as soon as he got a handful of them he stumbled over his feet and hit the ground hard. The wind took the pages and ran back into the fire with them; leaving him without a chance. He closed his eyes, wishing that he could fix it.

Again and again and again this happened; Soos, Stanley, back to Ford, now Pacifica, back to Mabel. Everyone Pinetree knew and trusted. On and on and on. AND IT JUST KEPT GETTING FUNNIER, **EVERY TIME HE** **WATCHED IT!**

Bill Cipher sat in his Fearamid, atop his throne as his friends partied. He had Ford's frozen golden form reaching out as he had tried to grab Dipper, it made for a perfect back-scratcher. The dumb journals were ash. And though he had not been able to get in the Mystery Shack, it didn't matter. He had the two biggest brains in Gravity Falls locked away. The giant blue orb that hung in between the jaws of the cliff, chained and unbreakable. A prison made solely for one inmate, Pinetree. He wanted to break him down, WHY?! **BECAUSE IT WAS SO EASY!** He had been a thorn in his side all summer, and after billions of years no one was so annoying. Not even Ford had vexed him as much. So, as he watched him cry over the form of Ford one more time Bill's eye squinted in mirth. " **Welcome to Dipperland...** "


	2. "I mean, who would sacrifice everything they've worked for just for their dumb sibling?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's day three of the end of the world, things are not looking good, and she has a rock in her shoe that she can't get out. Mabel officially is ready to call it quits. But maybe things are not as bad as they could be... right?

Mabel was in sweater-town when it all went to heck. She heard the sky rip open and looked up to see colors that would not be out of place in lava lamp. She emerged from the woods on the edge of town as Bill Cipher came down from the sky, in his hand was something shiny and gold. She was far away but still heard the demon's voice echo across the town as he introduced himself to the populace. Mabel knew then that something had happened with Dipper and Ford. She felt a pang of guilt that it might of been her doing, with her running off like that. But she couldn't let that stop her. However when she saw the monsters rain from the sky she did the first thing that came to her mind. She ran to the bunker in the woods.

However as she took aim with her grappling hook to hit that weird branch she saw Wendy mess with that opened everything, a wave crashed over the forest. She opened her eyes but did not feel even a little bit wet. However the tree was looking at her. It had a mechanical red eye and rose up out of the ground, metallic squid like appendages reaching out for her. Once again she ran away, figuring in town she might be able to find something. The madness that had overtaken everything there was too much. So Mabel went to the one place she felt safest; the crafts store.

It was mostly left alone, aside from a few flying eyeballs with leathery bat wings hovering around. Mabel camped in there and tried to calm her nerves through making sweaters. She was still awesome at that and figuring that she needed something stealthy she took all of the black yarn she could find and made herself a cozy but functional outfit. However she still wanted to be recognizable in case she ran into any friends, and so Mabel put her shooting star design on the front. It was the one she felt the most connection to, and was not all that worried about being seen as repeating her fashion.

This plan of hiding out carried on for the next two days, Mabel had some emergency snacks in her backpack but she had not kept her walkie-talkie. This made her worried that Dipper could be out there trying to get in touch with her and she'd never know. Needing to find her brother, Mabel finally left the store and began to hunt through the alleyways. Also the thought of food outside of gummy worms and sugar was more than a little appealing. Spotting the Gravity Fall's Mall she had an idea that Dipper might of gone there to look for some supplies and tools. Mabel was about to venture across the street when she spotted a giant sweaty monster man was crawling around using the arm that stuck out of the top of his head. Not wanting to be caught by something gross like that, she opted for the backup strategy; GRAPPLING HOOK!

Mabel zipped across the street and up to the roof of the mall, however this got the attention of some eye-bats that started to swoop down towards her. She'd seen the results of what happened the day before when Tad Strange got nabbed as he briskly walked across the cross-walk. That dude didn't break the law even during the apocalypse. Mabel hooked a piece of metal and dove through the broken skylight to lower herself like a super spy, however she ended up tangled and hanging upside down. "STUPID GRAPPLING HOOK!" She vented out loud as she wiggled before the sleeve of her sweater ripped and she was set free, landing on her butt as the grappling hook fell down. Mabel tucked it away and walked around the mall for any sign of Dipper or Stan or anyone. A light caught her eye and she saw a perfectly excellent thing of nachos out on a table. It was too good to be true...

It was too good to be true, Mabel found out as she triggered a trap and was strung up again, losing her other sweater sleeve. "I don't want to wear a sweater vest!" She lamented before Wendy stuck her head out of a bush.

"Mabel?" The older teen asked which prompted Mabel to gasp in shock.

"Wendy are you part tree now? That is really cool if you are, and I am sorry I can't water you right now." Mabel apologized, tears welling up in her eyes.

Wendy laughed and stepped out. "No girl, I am just straight surviving out here. Cool sweater vest." With a flourish she threw an ax to cut the rope holding the trap up. "My dad made me and my brothers do apocalypse training every year instead of Christmas. Guess it's sort of cool the paranoia paid off." She then spotted a bat flying towards the nachos. "No you don't!" Pulling out a crossbow and nailing it. "Bat meat, yes!" She cheered as Mabel looked on in a little shock.

"Whoa, that made me lose my appetite." Mabel complained but it didn't stop her from running up and hugging her tight. "I am glad I found you, have you seen Dipper?" She asked hopefully but Wendy sadly shook her head.

"Nah, only person I found was Toby Determined over there. I first thought he was a monster." She pointed over to the Gravity Fall's reporter who was nursing a bolt to his arm.

"This just in: I've been shot." He whined pathetically, but was still standing which was good news Mabel thought.

"But we really shouldn't be out in the open for too long, come on I'll show you my hide out." Wendy suggested which made Mabel excited to see what sort of lumber jack cabin she had made for herself, but it turned out to be the goth store _Edgy on Purpose_ , bringing the bat along to cook. It reminded Mabel of Robbie; the store not the bat, and she turned to Wendy as she got the meat cooking.

"Where were you when it happened?" Mabel wondered if she had any information that might help her find Dipper, guilt still gnawing at her.

"We were playing Truth or Dare in the cemetery when it happened. The eyeballs froze Nate, Lee, Tambry and Thompson." Wendy paused to open the cash register and use a bill to clean up some mess. "Robbie almost got away but had to pause to take a selfie. What about you?" She said with a note of derision towards her Ex.

"I was in the forest, I had run away after arguing with Dipper. He had been offered to stay in Gravity Falls by Grunkle Ford. I just... got so upset and I..." Tears stung Mabel's eyes as she looked down. "This is all my fault..."

"Oh dude..." Wendy expressed with all the gravitas those words could summon.

"I couldn't even look him in the eye..." Mabel sniffled before Wendy handed her a twenty to blow her nose with.

"Listen... you need some fresh air. Yo Toby, keep an eye on camp." Wendy shouted towards the weird reporter.

"Don't call me 'Toby' anymore. Call me Bodacious T." Toby came out dressed in the most punkish attire he could find, and she was shocked to see the liberty spike hairdo, not knowing where it came from, and nor wanting to know where the hair might of come from.

"No one is going to call you that. No way." Wendy shot down the reporter who had the presence of mind to groan in defeat. The two girls went up a ladder to the rooftop, which worried Mabel but she figured Wendy knew what she was doing. The girl certainly had a penchant for hanging out on roofs if the spot at the Shack was any indication. They took a seat and Wendy handed Mabel a can of Pitt to drink. "The end of the world. Man, those death metal album covers got it shockingly right." She mused out loud as they watched the chaos unfold.

Mabel however could not find herself able to at least enjoy the spectacle, hardcore as it may be. "I don't know what to do... Bill's won. My family is no where to be found. This stinks. And even my cool new sweater is torn... We've lost." She sighed and started to pull the collar up to hide her head in.

"Look, dude, it's not over yet. You've beaten Bill twice before, why is this time any different?" Wendy pulled the sweat back down so she could look at her. For a moment she realized why Dipper had been so super stupid crazy for the teen. She was unflappable and could turn things around on her own. Mabel had to rely on Dipper in order for that to happen.

"Because I don't have my brother." Mabel admitted.

Wendy shook her head. "Then you need to get Dipper back. Look, this summer, I've seen some amazing things, but nothing as amazing as you and your brother. I don't know if it's dumb luck or yin and yang, or whatever, but when you two work together, there's like nothing you two can't accomplish. You just need to make up, and team up, and save the universe." It was almost inspiring but the lingering question still hung in her chest.

"But how will I ever find him?" Mabel asked, and as if on cue with precise timing a monster smashed a sign in town, showing Mabel the cliffs that helped encircle Gravity Falls. Suspended between them was a large blue bubble with a deeper blue pine tree on it. "Look Dipper's hat, I mean the pine tree on it! He's got to be in there! I can feel it in my gut."

"Whoa, it that like twin ESP?" Wendy asked in awe, clearly thinking that they had some special power.

"No... I mean I don't think I do. Though I guess I knew every time he was thinking of you." Mabel joked slightly, which earned a laugh from the older girl.

"Okay you got me there. But you got any ideas on how to get to him? Because I am thinking of one right now." Wendy was staring off into town and Mabel followed her gaze to Bud Gleeful's car lot. Oh no.


	3. "Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the plan set; Mabel, Wendy, and Bodacious T get ready to break into the Gleeful Discount Auto-Mart to go out into the wastelands to save Dipper. Things go about as well as you expect...

They scaled the fence to the car lot, wincing with each step as Toby's tight shorts strain even more threatening to expose some unspeakable horror. Wendy leads them in further, whispering to the other two. "The abandoned auto-mart. Free cars right for the hot-wiring. We just found our ride to Dipper. I wonder if they have a tank. I've always wanted to drive a tank!" She said with unparalleled enthusiasm. For Mabel however, she thinks things are just a bit too convenient; Dipper's pessimism rubbing off on her.

"I don't think Gideon's dad would like us to steal but... it is for my brother. I can just apologize to him after, it's for a good cause." Mabel mused out loud. "Plus we do have so many to choose from."

Toby had slipped off on his own a little as they stalked further inside. "Ooh, an air freshener. Finally I'll smell like a person. Stealy stealy..." He said salaciously before getting hit by a dart. "Hah! It's gonna take more than one dart to keep me fr-..." He was cut off as several more hit him, making him collapse stiff as a board.

"Oh no! Tony! Was it Tony? I can never remember his name." Wendy passively cried out, not deeply concerned for the strange dude. Engines begin to rev up and overpower them with noise as a trio of cars light up their headlights, catching them in their beams. So jeers and cat calls come out which sets off Mabel.

"Listen here you stupid jerks! I need to get to my brother!" Mabel shouts with anger that surprises even Wendy, and she saw the preteen beat a unicorn bloody. "So you can either step aside or this will get ugly!"

However a deep modulated voice comes out of the darkness. " ** _No no no, why would you want to do that sweetie pie? My dearest darling Mabel, you shouldn't fuss yourself._** "

This struck both girls as weird. "Sweetie pie?" Mabel asked.

"Fuss?" Wendy countered before they both dawned on the same conclusion.

"Gideon?!" Their voices combined.

"That's Sheriff Gideon!" A light turned on and the stout white haired little boy stood on the shoulders of a huge thug with pale eyes, looking like a Wild West Cowpoke. "Under the authority of Bill Cipher, I place you two under arrest!" He pointed at them. "Oh, hi, Wendy! Have we formally met?" He said, dropping the authority in his voice.

"You can't arrest us Gideon!" Mabel exclaimed. "We need to save my brother!"

"I told you not to fuss yourself, I am just arresting the Corduroy girl and her little troll man. You I am wanting to make my Queen of course." Gideon said cheerily before taping on the head of his crony to lower him down to the ground. "You don't need that annoyance of yours that you call a brother. Trust me, he is right where he deserves."

"He deserves to be?" Wendy asked, incensed at the predicament her friend was currently in.

"Ma' old pal Bill figured you might try to rescue Dipper, Wendy. So he appointed me, Master of these Wastelands, and Keeper of the Bubble!" He announced, holding aloft a key with a pine tree on it.

"Gideon why did he give it to you?!" Mabel asked, her heart racing with fear for what is going on to Dipper inside of that bubble.

"Oh because Bill knew I hated him just as much as he did, and nothing would ever compel me to release him." Gideon tittered insanely. "He won't get in my way of wooing you anymore."

"You're wrong though... because I am getting in the way." Mabel said firmly. "Look... I know you have this idea in your head that you can control how someone can love you, but I learned the hard way that no one does. Not even a Love God."

"A whooey?" Gideon asked confused.

"Listen to me Gideon, if you really are trying to make me like who you are... maybe you need to be someone likable. But it is my fault for you hating Dipper so much. I should have told you that while all those things you did for me were really nice, they were also too much." Mabel approached the child who pulled the key away from her reach.

"Don't think you can trick me into giving this key to you!" Gideon warned weakly, his crew looking on in surprise.

"I am not going to trick you. I am going to ask you, can I please get my brother back? I need him as much as Ducktective needs his hat. Otherwise I am just a... DUCK!" Mabel shouted and pointed behind them. Gideon turned to see the usual dark skies and nightmares. It was only then that Mabel yanked the key from Gideon and kicked his butt away from her. "That's for being a jerk!" She screamed as Wendy knocked out the nearest guard and smashed a car window to get inside. She started up the vehicle and drove up to Mabel who hopped in the passenger seat.

"You really had me going there for a second too!" Wendy complimented as Mabel buckled up and they drove through the fence.

"He really thought that I was going to forgive him for trying to kill Dipper?!" Mabel exclaimed still angry at how Gideon thought she would be won over by him. As far as she was concerned, that ship was sunk. The drive towards the cliff was as exhilarating as it was dangerous as Gideon and his crew caught up in their own vehicles. Seeing no choice they turned to drive through the small bubbles of madness that floated across the Wastes. Each one was more weird than the last, except for a brief period where Mabel found herself in the body of what seemed to be a woman in her thirties who looked amazing; so she knew she had that to look forward to at least. However they approached an impossibly huge gorge.

"Hold on tight, I'm going for it!" Wendy said as she gunned the car and put the pedal to the metal. They hit an incline and sailed through the air. Mabel wished she could of had a camera catch them in mid-flight, it'd be epic for her scrapbook. However the landing was less than perfect, and by that it nearly killed them as they tumbled over and over. They came to a stop on the roof. Mabel pulled herself from the wreckage, crawling towards the Bubble in the distance when a shadowy figure eclipsed her vision. She strained her neck and looked up into the vaguely familiar shape.

"Sup, ham-bone!? How is the apocalypse treatin' ya?" Soos asked as he knelt down and sat Mabel up.

"Not great, you?" Mabel managed to get out.

"Oh you know, been helping people out. Handy-manning it up in this house. Well there isn't a house out here... I think I have some folk songs about me now." He mused before going to get Wendy and help her over. "Yo Wendy, I saw your sweet jump, sucks about the landing. But can't perfect everything, right?" He was far too cheery for the current situation, and when Gideon's fleet arrived things were even more grim.

"Mabel, you broke my heart with that kick... and my buns too!" Gideon was on the edge of tears. "I'ms 'fraid I have to call Bill." He pulled out a horn and before he could blow it, it was shattered by Mabel's grappling hook.

"And there's another thing I broke! Gideon, I don't owe you a thing! I am tired of being nice; I lost my Pig, I lost my Grunkles, I lost my Brother, and I lost my sleeves!" She realized she probably should have started with that last one. "So either you get out of my way, or I am going to make you." Mabel stood up; tired, battered, hungry, and filthy. "I am not a prize to be won, no one is. You want to be my friend? Well start acting like one first!" She helped Wendy stand and clutched the key in her hand even tighter.

"I understand..." Gideon said sadly. "I just... thought things might be different now."

"You tied me and my brother up and was going to explode us! You need to work on yourself before you can say things are different." Mabel furrowed her brow.

"She is kind of right, that's pretty messed up Gideon." The ghost eyed thug noted. "Plato said 'Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others'. She is trying to do a good action, maybe it is time we do the same. I don't feel right being a warden of another's prison."

Gideon looked at his henchman thoughtfully before looking at Mabel and then back. "Your philosophy major might have paid off... alright Mabel. You go get your brother, and maybe we can keep Bill distracted long enough for you two to make a plan to beat that stupid triangle."

A sudden rumble rolled through the sky, turning into a voice. " **Who are you calling a stupid triangle, Gideon?!** " The Fearamid had a cloud of eye-bats emerge from it.

Gideon looked at the trio in fear before determination set it. "You, ya bright yeller moron!" He challenged as the posse whooped and hollered as they drove to meet the eye-bats. Some of them taking cans of food coloring and spraying their faces with while shouting about Wal-Mart or something, Mabel wasn't a hundred percent sure. But she felt some respect for Gideon finally getting it through his thick pompadour about her feelings.

"Heh, they're all going to die probably." Soos mused to himself. The trio went up the road to the cliff where they found a lock that matched the key. Mabel looked at the other two and nodded as they prepared themselves for the worst. They unlocked it and watched as the chains fell with a great crash to the ground below. They held hands and went into the unknown to save Dipper. However what they saw inside was much worse than they could have imagined.


	4. "I am just another link in the world's worst chain." - Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A "breather" chapter before returning to the main story: How did the prim proper pioneer progeny Pacifica Elise Northwest find herself in this state; lost, alone, wearing a potato sack? It'd probably have to do with Weirdmageddon, but no one can be sure. I don't know, I am not a psychic.

So first things first, this sucks. Pacifica can’t even begin to convey how much everything had gone downhill. It all seemed a blur after the first contact with that glowing triangle guy. Well almost all a blur except for the vivid and horrifying image of her father’s face rearranged like a Picasso, that’s going to be something for her therapist down the line. She didn’t know what was worse, the muffled noises or later when they dragged him out of the street and he immediately started to put all of their money into “Weirdness Bonds” that the freak with the keyhole on his head was selling. He had gone completely insane, and so did her mother when she ran across the street to get some more money from the ATM, only to be picked off by one of the flying eyes. Her father didn’t last much longer before he too was turned to stone and taken off. That left her all alone with nothing but the clothes on her back. That was until she decided to take refuge at the mall and was picked up by her expensive jacket by a giant goat ripping through the back of her top as well before she landed on her knees, scuffing her boots and tearing her leggings at the knees. As she slipped through the doorway she looked back at the beast and thought it looked vaguely familiar, perhaps when she had gone to…

_“It’s not too late.”_

The memory was one that she replayed a lot, that gentle touch and offer to fix what had been broken. It had been all of her fault that she had lied to Dipper about her knowledge of the ghost, but even then she didn’t know… couldn’t have known how justified the anger was. Who even commissions paintings like that? It was perverse and sickening to see how two faced her family had been and how they reveled in it. But enough of the past, she needed to focus on the future. And the future was clothing to replace her torn ensemble. She rounded the corner to look at her favorite high end, well as high end as a mall in nowhere Oregon could be, fashion store. However the roof had collapsed and left only the front façade with some graffiti saying ‘SERVES YOU RIGHT! – WC’. She had half a mind who that WC was, but she would deal with that later, at least she could count on her second favorite store which was just the opposite way…

“You have to be joking…” Pacifica drawled in disbelief as she looked at the burnt out storefront of the lesser chic fashion place, this time on the wall was another message ‘Hashtag Fire Sale! – WC’. Unbelievable, at this rate she’d have to raid that tacky Goth store for clothing.

Soon after Pacifica found herself crawling under the shutter door into _Edgy on Purpose_ to look for anything to wear as she felt a chill run down her back. The inside was a complete mess that she wasn’t completely sure hadn’t always been there. She saw something near a fire that resembled food and leapt at it. It wasn’t until she was more than a handful of bites in that she saw the wing and realized it was a bat. She felt like she was going to hurl and threw it away. It sailed into a mess of clothing which let out a pained whine. Pacifica screamed in terror thinking she had wandered into a monster den only to be proved right when some hideous thing sat up with green spikes on its head and a deformed face.

“This just in: I am in bad shape!” Toby Determined explained as he rubbed the greasy spot where the meat hit his head. Pacifica screamed again louder when she realized it was the disgusting reporter. “No one is happy to see me…” He lamented which took Pacifica off guard.

“I am sorry…” The words felt foreign in her mouth, and not classy foreign like Italian or French, but something less fancy like Spanish or Belgian French. “I came here looking for clothes." Which as she saw the attire the reporter had picked out for himself, she realized she would not be caught dead in.

“It’s okay, I am used to it by now.” He hobbled over on a sprained ankle to sit down. He reached behind him and pulled a dart out of his back. “Here I was ready to go on a rescue mission but they left me behind.” He sighed.

“I guess I got left behind too.” Pacifica mused to herself mostly. “Do you think this place will be safe to stay in?” Asking as she felt extremely tired.

“Not really, I heard a big fight happened with Gideon and his group against those eye bats. I was thinking of moving towards the edge of town. There is word of a safe place out there.”

Pacifica wondered where he could be referring to when she felt the memory of a hasty but sincere hug inside of a monster’s loot bag. “The Mystery Shack?” She posited, hoping that maybe it was still around and that…

_“I think I see the **real** Pacifica, and you’re more than a pretty face.”_

It had been a good eye opening conversation, and Pacifica hoped that he wasn’t upset about her talking about the size of his head. However she saw Toby fussing with one of the spikes of his hairdo, seriously though where did all of that hair come from, and knew they needed to get to safety. “I think we can make it before dark if we hurry.”

Toby picked himself up, though she saw he was still unable to make much haste. “I think I’d slow you down, but you can go without me.” Toby put on the bravest face he could, which didn’t do anything for his features. She couldn’t let him sacrifice himself senselessly and didn’t see any first aid supplies in this makeshift hideout. However, she had played enough games to know that cloth was as good as a Band-Aid right? She looked around the store a little more, ignoring the various spiked and bedazzled outfits and found a slightly tattered bag that was too thin to work for a proper bandage but... She couldn’t believe she was going to do this, which made her realize all the more that it was the right thing to do. She took it into one of the changing rooms and came out with as much poise as she could muster in what amounted to a potato sack. She tore up what remained of her shirt and wrapped it around the reporter’s leg to act as a splint.

The trip to the Mystery Shack was not the easiest but she was Pacifica Northwest, and though that name meant little in the apocalypse, she was going to make it mean something. They tentatively approached the run down looking building, or was it always this trashy, and then before they could knock on the door they heard hushing sounds inside. Thinking it wise to not be ambushed she called through the door. “It’s Pacifica Northwest and Tob-… Bodacious T!” That earned her a sincere if disturbing smile of glee from the wounded reporter.

However from inside a voice answered her. “Northwest? Eugh, get outta here we don’t want ya!” It was hard not to recognize the voice of Stan Pines, the proprietor of this tourist trap. However some murmuring filtered through the door as if others were trying to sway Stan’s mind. “FINE FINE! We’ll let them in, but if I hear one snappy comment out of her she’s getting kicked out, the Chief has spoken.” The door was opened and there stood the broad shouldered older man looking just a little weather-worn, but much better than Pacifica and Toby. Stan took one look of their new attire and nearly busted a gut laughing. “Oh wow I wish I had a camera, this is perfect!” He cackled but when he saw the dark look on Pacifica’s face and noticed the designer brand cloth wrapped around Toby’s leg he stopped. “Sorry… a little. Come inside, we got some brown meat we can share.” He said and opened the door the rest of the way for them to enter. It seemed like quite a crowd had gathered in the Shack, and Pacifica was in awe of not just the people but the creatures that were hiding out. She had kind of believed Dipper when he rambled about the various monsters and such. To be honest she hadn’t listened too closely, but now she wished she had. The biggest shock was seeing the entirety of Sev’ral Timez cowering in the corner like a pack of frightened animals. She had wondered what had happened to them after their concert in Gravity Falls.

“Is Dipper and Mabel here too?” Pacifica asked which made Stan’s face fall as he sadly shook his head. It stung to know that they could still be out there, but she didn’t have the strength right then and there to go back out and search for the twins. Stan got them as comfortable as refuges could be, and she pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. She closed her eyes and hoped that when she opened them that he was there in that dusty hidden room again with her, giving her strength and support.

“This is the way…” Stan said firmly to one of the gnomes who had been stacking cans up on the shelf on their sides when he wanted them vertical. He then walked over and sat down on the bench near her. “Look about the laughing… I haven’t had much to laugh about so I jumped on the chance. Didn’t mean nothing by it, so don’t go trying to sue me for ‘emotional distress’ once this is all over… if it ends.” He added a little unsure. “Ford where are you…” She heard him mutter under his breath.

“It’s okay, I have faith things will look up soon enough. I mean, it has to right?” Pacifica put on her best face and tilted her sharp no up in the air. “No way am I going to stay in this hovel forever.” Trying to capture her normal tone.

“I can still make you sleep outside you know.” Stan jeered playfully, at least she hoped he was. “But you are right… things gotta look up soon.” He then left to go scold the gnomes again. Pacifica wrung her hands together.

“It’s not too late…” She reaffirmed herself and hoped that whatever was going on, that they figured it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (This chapter's scenario was written to be more or less canon with either timeline, so if you think this fits with Dipper or Mabel inside the Prison Bubble, go ahead. And sorry for my shameless love of the Dipcifica Ship, but don't worry I am not making any non-canon ship 100% fact or false. Except for Magidbeleon [Mabel X Gideon], because that one is a bit too big of a stretch for me to believe.)


	5. "So when the world fights, he fights back."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel, Wendy, and Soos have entered the Bubble, their goal is simple; find and rescue Dipper. However it is not going to be that easy as the world is an ever shifting realm of chaotic thoughts and emotions. Dipper is not a master of his domain; just its plaything, and perhaps Dipperland will enjoy the newest guests as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (CW: This chapter is a lot darker and more intense, if you are sensitive I apologize and will include a summation of what happened in the beginning of the next chapter.)

Mabel didn’t know when it happened but the ground they were walking on was gone from beneath their feet. They fell until hitting the matte grey hull of a disc shaped object that was crashed into the ground. In the center was a bright blue orb and attached to that was a massive chain that slumped into the dirt. Soos gasped in shock. “It’s a keychain!” He said proudly as he looked at the others, it took them a second before they agreed.

“Whoa, what is going on in Dipper’s head?” Wendy admitted, the concern showing through the calm tone she kept most of the time. They looked out at the facsimile Valley of Gravity Falls, it reminded Mabel and Soos of the inside of Stan’s mind but while that seemed more washed out and derelict, this was in constant flux as trees fell apart and sprung up a few feet away, making navigating the woods impossible. What concerned them the most was the gout of fire that sprung up into the swirling sky, its origins centered in the middle of this world, repeating every few minutes as if on a schedule? The air was filled with screams and cries of pain, an ever present cacophony that beat them senseless. Calls for certain names filtered through the noise but were swallowed up by the sheer terror.

“We have to find Dipper, but I don’t trust this place. We need to stick together!” Mabel said firmly before turning around to find herself all alone. Her heart sank and she looked around wondering where Wendy and Soos went when she saw a road leading towards what could have been town.

“Soos, Mabel!?” Wendy called out as she walked along a trail that seemed to open up, she had no memory of them walking away from her but she had looked away and by the time she looked back they were gone. The trees seemed more stable along the path she walked but she had a nagging feeling in her mind that this was all familiar.

Soos laughed nervously and turned around. “Okay okay, good joke. We all are having fun… but can you please come back out?” Unable to hide his fear he saw a path that seemed to dip down leading into the ground. He had no other way to go and he left the UFO keychain to follow it.

Mabel saw the familiar shape of the town but nothing seemed right until she saw the theater. She knew what she was going to find inside of it and went to turn back only to find the street she had just walked down was now a dead end of abandoned and bricked up buildings. So were all of the side streets she had passed. She had a feeling that she was not alone in this place and that someone was moving her, and possibly the others, around like Chess pieces. She hated that game, though she loved the little horsey pieces. She considered using the grappling hook but she didn’t want whatever it was to counter her attempt. She’d keep that ace in her pocket for the time being.

Wendy was forging ahead along the path given to her and her heart just about jumped into her throat when she saw a log on its side, not a terrifying sight for a lumberjack certainly, but it was the exact spot that she had finally talked to Dipper about his crush on her and what it meant. This was a planned spot, and she drew her ax ready to fight when she saw the way she had come was completely blocked by those ever shifting pine trees. She looked ahead and standing out in a clearing was an odd tree, the one made of metal that housed the hidden bunker. Without hesitating she knew she’d have to play the game to go ahead. So as she approached the entrance the stairway revealed itself; welcoming and inviting her down into its depths.

Soos continued his way downward, but instead of the air cooling off, it just seemed to get hotter and more humid the farther he went. However he tried to turn back and run up the incline but it seemed way steeper than it had been going down. His foot slipped on the dirt and he started sliding down the rocky path to the remains of an old church, the same one they had gone to while looking for the pterodactyl that had stolen Waddles. The ground opened up in front of him into a great black maw. “Oh shoot this isn’t good!” He cried out before falling down into the depths. He saw a pile of sap and aimed for it, hoping its gooeyness would cushion his fall. It helped but his butt still hit the ground underneath, making it ache something fierce.

Soos wadded through the stick pine sap until he broke free. He landed on the dirt and gasped as the air felt like he was breathing right off of a humidifier, he remembered doing that on a dare from his cousin Reggie. He looked around expecting to see the dinosaurs that had been frozen in the sap but it seemed like it was completely empty. In the distance however he heard the snuffling and oinks of Waddles. He was excited because that meant he might find Mabel whom the pig was never far from. He remembered his brief tenure in Waddle’s body due to the shag carpet that had been in his new break room. He was walking when suddenly he got hit in the face by something, it might have been a big leaf but it was too sharp to have been that. He reached up and touched his cheek, feeling the scratch it had left and seeing the faintest amount of blood on his fingertips. He looked down at the ground and his stomach dropped out from under him. Caught in some of the sap he was trailing behind him from his shoes, was a postcard. A postcard he knew he had thrown away in the Laser Tag trashcan. He heard fluttering and turned to see more postcards fly towards him, edges ready to slice him. He ducked out of the way and looked up to see the source. It was a pterodactyl, made out of a collection of postcards, candy, and electronics. It opened its maw and he heard the familiar robotic sweet voice of Gif.ANY. “ **Soos… you will be mine!** ” She assured him in a chipper tone before dive bombing towards him.

“Nuh-uh, this heart belongs to Melody, dog!” He stood his ground and thought what Stan might do, he’d punch it in the face! So Soos used all of the knowledge of timing from playing pinball to get ready for his moment. However the Gif-Can-dactyl banked a hard right that didn’t seem possible and Soos was forced to jump back, feeling the edge of the wing graze his stomach and cut through his shirt. Okay so Stan wouldn’t work, what did he have next? He heard the familiar rush of water and recalled the geyser that they had ridden out of this place the first time under Dipper’s suggestion.

“ **I’m sorry Soos baby, let me kiss it and make it better!** ” The Gif-Can-dactyl screeched as it turned in the wide cave to make another pass as he ran straight towards it. He saw no opening above it, just a bunch of sharp rocks, which was what he needed. He felt a rock suddenly push under his foot and sent him tripping over himself like Dipper did a lot. He wondered why when the geyser was about to shoot off with him going to land in it. He rolled to the side just as the Gif-Can-dactyl’s jaw snapped on thin air where he had been. The geyser erupted, pushing the monster up into the spiked ceiling with a deafening roar and cry as wet electronics and candy and paper all started to rain back down. However as the creature disintegrated something inside of it was careening towards him. It looked like…

Trouble… big trouble… Wendy thought as she stood in the cube shaped room trying to remember the code to which Dipper had told them to input to stop this crushing trap. She was panicking when she sorted herself out and hit the symbols in order. The opposite door opened and she dove into safety. Everything looked disused and in need of serious repair. There was no power and only a faint glow from the other side of the decontamination shower that Mabel had shoved Dipper into with, though she had no idea it had been anything but a closet before that. “No power… so expect to see that Shapeshifter probably…” She told herself before kicking herself about not making sure everyone had a code word or something in this situation. Well her and Dipper had the zipper motion, but she didn’t think it’d work a second time, and recalling how hard the kid had swung that ax into her doppelganger’s torso she didn’t want to risk it.

Sure enough as she walked into the tunnel, where the cryo-tube had been was just shattered glass. She gripped the ax a little tighter as she wandered the tunnels, jumping at every little sound. She didn’t know how much longer she could take being alone. “I’m a flippin Corduroy, keep it together girl!” She pumped herself up but that emboldened spirit was gone in a second when she heard a faint voice call out.

“Wendy?! Is that you?” It sounded like Dipper, which only made her on edge even more. She remembered the visage that the monster had frozen into. She followed the sound of the voice. “Wendy please, I need your help! I am hurt!” He sounded on the edge of tears. Wendy felt her resolve weaken as she ran towards it, not wanting to risk losing her best friend. She was rounding a corner when she smacked into him. He gasped and hit the dirt. “Please don’t be the monster!” He yelled.

“Dude it is me, we talked on the log outside remember?” She figured a memory after leaving the bunker would be the best way to gauge his authenticity.

“We did? We DID!” He said excitedly and turned to face her, but her eyes widened at the hesitation and as she saw the bandage across his chest right where the ax had struck the shapeshifter. She did not hesitate and swung the ax right for the monster’s neck, not going to be fooled this time. The ax sunk deep into the shoulder but as she ripped it back out…

Pain… Mabel felt her heart breaking seeing the ruined set of  _ Glove Story: A Sock Opera _ . Not her finest moment as she had nearly put everything at risk just for some weirdo boy who was prone to making out with his own puppets. She sook head, it had been a labor of idiotic love, but it was still a lot of labor. Her Mabel puppet was tucked safely in her suitcase for the… for the end of summer. “Aww geez, I screwed that up too.” She felt all of her self-doubt swell up inside of her; her desire for things to go her way when so often they wouldn’t but only succeeding due to Dipper sacrificing something to make her wish true. She had squandered that again and again. This was the closest she had come to a real epiphany about herself, but she had gone back on it right away it felt like. “I am a real crummy sister… so come on out Bipper: I know you are out there waiting to make fun of me or fight me or try to hurt me.” Mabel called out, clenching her fists. She heard a slow sarcastic clap, not unlike the wax figures.

“ **Oh wow you are pretty astute, Shooting Star. I’d give you some credit but you’d probably hog it all!** ” Bipper stood up on the catwalk, wearing that tattered reverend attire and looking more mangled than he had in reality. One eye was now missing, as were many of his teeth. This was meant to shock her, she knew, but it still stung to see her brother’s body so wounded.

“Cut it out, I know you aren’t the real Dipper!” Mabel yelled in a challenge.

“ **So sure about that, well then let’s make a wager! Head or tails** ?” He asked, grinning bloodily.

“What? Heads?” She said confused before realization filled her heart full of needles of fear. Bipper laughed and jumped from the catwalk, doing a flip before diving headfirst to the floor as Mabel ran up the length of the seating to the stage, but it seemed to be getting longer and Bipper was falling so slow. He looked at her and his eye was no longer that elongated pupil but his normal brown hue, overflowing with fear as he scrambled to try and correct his landing but with a crunch he landed headfirst into the floor just as Mabel slid to catch. She ended up right at his side as she heard the gurgle of a broken neck. “No No NO!” She cried as he shook his body trying to make things right when his hand suddenly grabbed her arm painfully tight, his nails digging trenches into her skin.

“ **Y-y-you w-wuh-won!** ” Bipper explained happily before collapsing, a smile frozen on his broken face. The word didn’t make sense to Mabel until the body burst into a swarm of bugs that started to crawl up her. She screamed and brushed them off as she backed away. She looked around as the theater began to disintegrate around her. Her tears still hung on her cheek but the scratch she received was no longer there. She didn’t know where she was at.

Soos reached out as he made out the small form of Dipper falling from the interior of the Gif-Can-dactyl. He felt so light in his big arm but he saw why that was. Punched through his chest was a gaping hole, caused by the spiky rocks on the ceiling that Soos had just made him hit. “No dude… please you… you are like family to me!” Soos said, his heart breaking at the thought of being the cause of Dipper’s demise. He thought of what Mabel would do when she found out what Stan would do. Everyone would turn their backs on him. “I didn’t mean it!” He shouted and hugged the body closer to him. However something bumped against him and he was surprised. He looked down to see Waddles there looking up at him curiously. “I am sorry… I didn’t know it was him…” Soos explained to the hog, who merely tilted his head curiously. He then leapt up into Soos’ arms, displacing the image of the deceased Dipper. “Wait what?” Soos exclaimed as the image disappeared. The pig was real but Dipper wasn’t, what did that mean. He looked around and the walls started to melt and disappear.

Wendy saw red blood gush from the wound she had just inflicted on the boy that had loved her with all of his little heart. She held him and took her shirt from around her waist to hold against the wound she had caused, trying to stop the bleeding but soon her shirt was drenched. She held him to her chest. “I am sorry Dipper, please don’t die!” She felt her walls break, all of her cool headedness vanished in an instant and she was a sobbing wreck. She had been the strong one for so long but it was too much.

Dipper was gurgling something and she leaned closer to listen. “T-tell… me… could y-you ever l-l-love me?” He asked, and as she looked into his eyes so full of desperation she did not know what to say. She adored him as her friend but he was just so much younger than her, but was two years and some change that big of a difference? She did not know for certain. It was just too big of a question. As she pondered her answer she felt his body go slack.

“Wake up! No, don’t go away Dipper, we need you!” Wendy shook him to try and make those kind and intelligent eyes open. “I need you…” She needed that person she could always rely on, and maybe that was love or maybe just true friendship. She was too young to know for sure. That was when she heard the scrape of her ax on the ground and the shapeshifter’s deep gravelly voice.

“ **Too bad you couldn’t have told him sooner…** ” It mocked as Wendy closed her eyes and let all of her fear be drowned out by the thought of the winter morning she had woken up to hear the phone call from her dad at the hospital. The day that her mother had finally slipped away from illness. She was not afraid of death, she knew what it was. It was an icy January day when her world was turned upside down. The ax swing she expected did not come, but instead just the clatter of the ax on the ground. She felt Dipper’s weight disappear from her arms and opened her eyes knowing that whatever game this place had tried to play to make her afraid and make her weak. It had failed. She got up and pulled on her plaid shirt as she picked up the ax to witness the tunnels blow away like styrofoam in a snow globe.

Mabel looked around and saw Soos holding Waddles in his arms on one side and Wendy on the other side looking completely serene and ready. “You guys… beat it too?” She didn’t want to ask for details, not right now, and received nods from them both. She ran over to Soos and hugged the big guy and her pig tightly as Wendy came up and joined in. It was peaceful and calm. Until the fire burst from close by. They all jumped, ready to fight as they looked at what was aflame; the Mystery Shack.

They did not know what was going on until the door burst open and Dipper came outside with Grunkle Ford in tow. Dipper pulled off Ford’s coat and threw it away as it burned. From nowhere in the air the Journal fell and hit the ground, smoldering slightly as pages blew out of it. Dipper was about to start CPR when he dropped his head in defeat. "This is all my fault..." He said before looking up hopefully at the Journal pages, his eyes full of madness as he chased after them, only to trip and lose them all. He then lowered his head and everything paused before the fire erupted once again and Dipper, Ford, and the Journal pages were gone in an instant.

“What is going on dudes…” Soos asked deeply disturbed at the grim one act play that seemed to be on repeat again and again.

“Bill is punishing Dipper the only way he knows how.” Wendy concluded and Mabel knew as well as she saw Dipper exit the building another way, this time with another Mabel in his arms.

“He’s keeping him alone and thinking he’s failed.” Mabel said out loud as she looked to the others. They needed to break the cycle, but how?


	6. "A WINNER NEVER RUNS AWAY FROM A FIGHT!!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the harrowing experiences Dipperland have thrown their way; Mabel, Soos, and Wendy put their minds to work on how to free Dipper from the loop he seems caught in. However things are not as easy done as they are said. Will they be able to save Dipper from what he sees in himself?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Summation of Chp. 5 for those who wanted to avoid the previous chapter's more graphic writing): Having entered the Prison Bubble; Mabel, Wendy, and Soos are separated and challenged by events connected to Dipper that have left lasting impressions on them. Mabel is forced to confront Bipper at the Theater where her infatuation for Gabe almost overcame her familial love for her brother. Soos is dropped back into the dino-caves where he fights an amalgamation of the pterodactyl, Gif.ANY, The Summerween Trickster, and his own hang ups about his deadbeat father. Wendy is taken back to the Bunker where Dipper confessed his feelings while they battled the Shapeshifter; leading her to question how deeply Dipper means to her and what it signifies. After Mabel sees through Bipper, Soos is united with Waddles, and Wendy regains her coolness in the face of death; they are reunited and find where Dipper is being kept at the center of the Bubble, caught in the same loop he woke up into at the beginning.

Mabel is already fighting tears as she watches the loop over and over again. Each time it gets worse as she sees that his eyes are becoming more sunken in and his body moves a little slower. Is this what Bill wants; to see Dipper run himself until he physically can’t move anymore and just accepts his fate? No she thinks not, she believes that once Dipper gives up on this torture, he’ll just be put into another one. She sees her chance when Dipper brings her out of the gift shop entrance. She runs up to him and grabs his shoulders to shake him. “DIPPER IT’S ME, I’M RIGHT HERE!” She calls out but he pushes against her, terrible confusion in his eyes as she wonders if he doesn’t see her at all and is just being held back by some unknown force. However her heart elates when his eyes meets hers and his voice quietly repeats.

“It’s my fault… it’s all my fault. I can’t save you… I can’t save anyone!” He then pushes her again but it is not her brother’s skinny arms that move her but something else that throws her back to the ground as the loop instantly restarts. Mabel watches as just keeps going. Soos comes up and hugs her as he watches intently before his brow softens in what could only be an idea. He waits until the door opens and this time a copy of Wendy is brought outside and he leaps onto the Journal to stop the pages from being lost to the wind. However the moment he touches the book he yelps in pain withdrawing from it as red marks from heat stand out on his skin.

“Stupid Bubble! Give us back Dipper!” He yells to the sky and Mabel half expects a singular narrow pupil to look down at them mockingly. But no such thing happens, and Mabel is forced to watch everything happen again. She sees Ford and wishes she knew where he was, he’d have an answer to how to get Dipper out of this. She looks over at Wendy as the older girl is pacing like an animal behind bars at a zoo. She hopes the teen has some idea that might snap him out of it. When Dipper emerges from the fire again, Pacifica in tow, Wendy makes her move and her execution was not exactly unexpected but she couldn’t blame Wendy for trying. She tries to play along to the scene, but like with Soos as soon as she grabs at the pages she jerks back as if she touched a hot stove. Finally she lets out an exasperated scream and hits the Shack with her ax, which busts through as if the building was nothing more than a cheap set. Nothing comes of it though and she joins other two sitting in defeat.

“So what can we do? I don’t want to hurt him, because I think It would enjoy that too much.” There it was, that nebulous It. The Force keeping Dipper in. The World they were inside of. What a world it was. Closer to the epicenter the cacophony of screams made more audible sense. They were his memories on loudspeaker, throwing every error he made back into his face. ‘Was this truly what it was like to be Dipper?’ Mabel wondered. If so how much of this was because of her involvement? Would he have been able to grow past these traumas if she had graciously accepted his decision to stay in Gravity Falls? If this was a reflection of his mind, Gravity Falls was the only place he felt was right for him. Not their suburban life in Piedmont. She looked up at Dipper as he once again lugged Soos out, his legs shaking from the effort.

“You can stay in Gravity Falls if you want to, I want you to feel like you belong.” She said quietly, but there was hesitation in Dipper’s step as he was looking for the pages. He glanced around before resuming his loop. But Mabel saw that she had changed something. “Guys, I think he can hear us… what is something else he worries about?” She looked at the other two who began to wrack their brains. When they saw Dipper again Soos got to his feet.

“You and your sister are like siblings I never knew I had and I don’t want it any other way!” He called out which paused Dipper even more as if he was processing. Wendy saw her opportunity.

“I love you guys, and I will be totally bummed out if I never see you again!” Mabel was shocked to see tears in the tough girl’s eyes. But it was having an effect as he no longer seemed so intent on hunting for the pages.

The cycle started over but this time Dipper came out alone and was looking around. “What is going on?! Is this my fault?” He asked, fear running through his words.

“No dude, you are stuck in here by Bill! He’s jealous of how smart you are!” Soos called out and moved closer. “You’re the smartest guy I know, and half the cool stuff we did this summer wouldn’t have happened without you.” The big guy grinned, meaning every word with all of his heart. This managed to get a ghost of a smile on Dipper’s face. The cycle started over but he wasn’t dragged in this time. The Shack started to warp and burn higher and higher.

Wendy was almost close enough to touch Dipper when she spoke calmly to him. “I want my friend back, and though things are weird, I don’t mind it if you don’t.” She smiled when Dipper looked up and met her eyes.

“Wendy?” He said, recognition on his face before things got strange again. Wendy watched as doppelganger of herself walked out of where she stood and headed towards the burning building.

“Bill got to me… it’s your fault Dipper… you couldn’t save me in time.” Fake-Wendy said sadly as she turned around to face Dipper, the door to the shack opening up on its own as she backs into the fire. Dipper screamed out in anguish and ran inside after her. Wendy attempted to follow but the door slammed shut and sent her flying back.

The Shack suddenly changed forms, it was no longer on fire but it was a blackened charred mess. The doors were shut and windows boarded up as they heard Dipper’s voice repeating “It’s all my fault, it’s all my fault”. Soos first tried to bash the door down with his shoulder but he hit hard and dropped nursing his arm. Wendy tried to use her ax again but this time the wood clanged like rock against the metal blade. The entity in charge of things having wised up and changed the game like Mabel had thought. It had them in checkers now, no wait check. She hated the weird terms for Chess. So Mabel did what she had available. She took out her grappling hook and climbed up through the broken in roof. She could feel some sort of panic in the air as if the Bubble hadn’t thought of protecting that way. She hurried before anything blocked her path as she got into the living room where Dipper was running around looking at scattered pages of the journal, trying to find the answer in them and not able to give up. “It’s all my fault.” He kept saying, tears running down his cheeks. Mabel knew it’d be pointless to touch him right then.

“Dipper… I don’t want to grow up apart from you. Because you are the one person I look up to the most. You have saved me countless times, comforted me so much, and put up with my mistakes almost always. You’re my hero, you’re my brother, and you are better than this world is trying to make you think.” Mabel was trying to deploy her tears to manipulate him but it was hurting her so bad to know that inside this whole time her brother was feeling like this. Even a fraction of it. Dipper paused and dropped the page he had in his hand.

“Please tell me you are real… that I am not dreaming you.” Dipper said, not looking at her but his voice desperate.

“I am as real as Bear-o is cool.” She said with a weak grin.

“I really hate that bear.” He said with a brittle laugh.

“I know you do, but I think he likes you.” Mabel retorted.

“Did you mean it… when you said that you were okay with me staying in Gravity Falls?” Dipper sounded like he was starting to wake up from a deep sleep.

“I meant every word, I won’t like it but I will bury you with the amount of letters I send.” Mabel finally walked up and held out her arms. “Awkward sibling hug?” She offered.

“Sincere sibling hug…” Dipper said, crying without shame as he wrapped his skinny arms around her. She held him back and closed her eyes.

“Pat. Pat” They said in unison, before busting out into laughter as the house creaked and groaned in protest. Dipper moved suddenly pulling Mabel out of the way of a falling beam. He then ran towards the door while holding her hand and kicked it open. He looked at Soos and Wendy, grinning at their stunned expressions.

“We gotta get out of here, this place isn’t going to hold together for long.” He said, back in the saddle again, Mabel thought, before realizing Gideon’s dumb weird way of speaking rubbed off on her. They all wanted to celebrate but that can come after. First they needed to burst Bill’s Bubble.


	7. "When you battle side-by-side with someone, you realize that they've probably always got your back."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper's snapped out of it, but they got a long way before they are out of the woods, and Dipperland is not going to let Its one prisoner escape! Hold onto your hats (and headband), you're in for a bumpy ride!

Dipper was right, as was often the case, the Bubble was growing more unstable the longer he walked around free. However Dipperland’s job was to keep him inside, nothing said he had to be alive for it to count. The now solid forest was shaking not just from tremors, but from a horrific menagerie of every monster, creature, or beast that it could summon out of their minds. The Shapeshifter in all of his forms lunged at them from the trees only to be hacked at by Wendy and her ax. Mabel witnessed Bipper summoning monstrous puppet versions of everyone while riding atop of the creature from her War subplot of _Glove Story_. “ **Mabel! Come on, don’t you want Gabe anymore?** ” He called after her as the monster opening its mouth and Gabe’s head and puppets emerged on the end of tentacles that lashed out.

“Ew gross!” Mabel yelled and fired her grappling hook at the beast’s eye before getting Soos’s help to yank it out. It stopped the monster in its tracks which just angered Bipper even more. Dipper looked over at Wendy and pulled her down as the pterodactyl nearly snatched her up to either eat her or drop her to her demise. He didn’t care to find out which. She smiled at him before getting her game face on to whack at a gremloblin.

“We can’t let them slow us down too much!” Dipper shouted over the sounds of a violent wind storm. He saw in the distance the giant upturned side of his Grunkle Ford’s keychain. That was their exit, he knew it. He pushed ahead but in his haste he turned back to see the path suddenly swallowed up by trees. “NO!” He tried to go back but he heard a voice behind him.

“DIPPER! Dipper is that you?!” The unmistakable voice of Ford. He looked back and saw him sliding down the UFO and landing with his gun drawn. “I got away from Bill finally! We need to leave and save Gravity Falls!” He ordered. “The mission is paramount!”

“Grunkle Ford! Mabel and our friends are in here still. We got to save them!” Dipper ran up to Ford. “We can’t save Gravity Falls without them.”

“Dipper, I know this is hard but we can’t let these bonds hold us back. It’s the rest of the world, the galaxy, the universe at stake.” Ford pleads impassioned. Dipper feels like maybe they can handle themselves and takes a step forward before stopping.

“Ford, this place plays tricks on people… I need to know it is you.” Dipper moves back slightly.

“No you are right, I understand your paranoia. Okay, ask away my apprentice.” Ford steadies himself, and Dipper feels doubt creep in his chest about whether he is not actually a fake but the real deal.

“How many fingers am I holding behind my back!” Dipper asks sharply.

“Two!” Ford says without hesitation before his features turns a scary, eerie, sociopathic calm. “Let’s see them then.” Not-Ford says flatly, not hiding anymore.

Dipper shows his hand, a rude gesture he picked up from Stan. “Eyes everywhere huh?” Dipper says calmly.

“Oh you have no idea, boy.” Not-Ford chuckles before raising his gun at Dipper, the twelve year old has had enough games and tackles into the figure’s gut as he fires; hitting the dirt behind him with a loud explosion that sends debris landing on Dipper’s hat. He starts to fight the older man with all he has. Unfortunately he still isn’t strong enough against a large opponent who chucks him aside easily. “You are pretty stupid if you think you can just fight your way out of here.” Not-Ford mocks.

“Not as dumb as the guy who copies my Grunkle exactly.” Dipper retorts as he lifts up the magnet gun and pulls the trigger. It pulses as Not-Ford’s gun flies from his hand into Dipper’s outstretched one. “Sorry to burst your bubble!” He then pulls the trigger. The mess is non-existent as it blows through Not-Ford and blasts open the side of the wall into reality. Everything starts to shake as the Bubble verges on collapse. The trees disappear and he sees his friends running up to join him as they run out the side, and jump onto the cliff. Soos carrying Mabel and Waddles as Wendy give Dipper a boost by swinging him forward. The Bubble pops and they land with a thud on the ground. Dipper notices that the weapons he got from Not-Ford have disappeared; not too big of a deal, he felt weird using them anyway. He looked around in shock at the world. “Weirdmageddon…” He exclaimed in shock. However he didn’t have long to ponder the chaos when he was swarmed with hugs.

“We’ve missed you, Dipper” Soos told him as he nearly crushed him with the tightness of his hug.

Mabel looked into Dipper’s eyes. “Hey, Dipper? I mean what I said back there, if you want to take Ford's apprenticeship, I won't get in your way.”

Dipper shook his head. “Psh. And miss out on your awkward teen years? You wish.” He laughed and held her tight. “Man, things went nuts back there. I mean come on. I shot Ford, well Not Ford, the Bubble…”

Wendy gently punched his shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, glad to see you back.” She smiled and Dipper noticed the faintest bit of flush in her cheeks.

“Well we better get back to town. I don’t know why but I have a feeling Ford knows Bill’s weakness.” Dipper said as he stood and adjusted his hat. The trek down the cliff was quiet, in fact it seemed too quiet, but that might have just been the final silence after everything inside the Bubble. But when they got to the streets they found them empty.

“Where is everyone?” Mabel asked, looking around for signs of life.

“The town's deserted.” Wendy noted as she stared through a busted storefront.

“Did Bill already win?” Soos was sounding scared which Dipper knew he needed to stop.

“Come on, guys. Let's see if we can still go hide out in the Shack.” He suggested and led the way through the trees. He moved a branch out of view and was surprised to see it still standing. “Yes! It's in shambles! Just like we left it.” He realized how bad that sounded. But Wendy didn’t care as she piped up.

“Oh, man, this is the first time I've ever felt happy going to work.” Her remark got a laugh out of them and started them running.

Mabel spoke as they all ran up to the door. “Hello, house. Hello, porch. Hello, wads of gum I left stuck to the couch.” She said standing on it and staring at the back.

Dipper reached for the handle when he heard noises inside. He stopped and listened. “Wait, what was that? Shh.” He spoke to the three others. They each readied themselves: Dipper grabbing a golf club, Wendy loading her crossbow, Soos… turning his hat around and cracking his knuckles; it was kind of intimidating, and Mabel with her grappling hook.

“Let’s get ‘em, dudes.” Soos said forcefully and Dipper kicked open the door so they could charge inside with a battle cry. Only to be answered by another return cry from a bunch of people Dipper recognized, chief among them, Stan.

“Wait.” Dipper said before Mabel was by his side.

“Grunkle Stan?” The Twins exclaimed and ran to hug him tightly.

“Kids! I can't believe it! I thought I lost you two!” He answered back as he held them close. However it wasn’t going to just stop at them it seemed when Soos wrapped himself around the three.

“Mr. Pines! It's really you! I've been hugging strangers to practice for this moment.” He said in a happy tone that was completely honest sounding.

Wendy surprised them all with how hard she slammed in to join the embrace. “We missed you, you old codger!” She said with such affection in her voice.

Grunkle Stan laughed in relief. “I've missed you knuckleheads, too. It's good to have you back.” It was good to be back. Dipper took a quick look around; seeing Pacifica roughing it pretty well made him feel some unknown tension loosen in his chest, there were monsters and people all hiding out. Stan explained the situation and they heard an update from Shandra Jimenez on the TV, which somehow still worked. In it they learned about where Bill had the people he apparently captured, a throne for himself inside of his base of operations. Dipper knew that Bill had Ford in there somewhere as well. He felt an idea starting to form while the others lamented the fate of their loved ones. His eyes met Mabel’s and they both seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Mabel suddenly climbed up onto the back of the Multibear to have an elevated speaking position. “Guys, don't you see? Our friends need us, but we can only save them if we fight back.” She then pulled Dipper up so he could speak too.

“Mabel is right. Bill wants us to run and hide. He wants us to think he's invincible. But Ford might be captured but I know that he has to know Bill's secret weakness.” This gets people talking amongst each other. Wendy however speaks up.

“Weakness?” She sounds a little unsure but once she sees the fire in Dipper’s eyes she knows he is right.

Dipper continues. “Now, if we band together, if we combine all of our strength, our smarts, our...whatever Toby has...” He said gesturing to the strange reporter.

“Various rashes!” Toby says, a little too excitedly for Dipper’s tastes, but he doesn’t let it slow him down.

“...then we just might be able to rescue Ford, learn Bill's weakness, and save Gravity Falls!” He said triumphantly as everyone inside the shack, minus Stan, cheers. It seems like a long shot but in his gut he knows it is going to work. He can’t wait to get at Bill and show him why he shouldn’t mess with the Pines family.


	8. "Take a trip. Find it. It's out there somewhere in the woods. Waiting." - Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight to take back the Falls is a roaring success, and though they don't walk away unscathed, they walk away. However it is not yet time to leave but Dipper has some baggage he needs answers for, and Ford's the only one who he thinks might know what is going on.

It all feels a little unreal, as if one second he is going to snap to and find himself back inside the Prison Bubble. He pokes his bruises when the feeling gets overwhelming and it brings him back somewhat. But even during the loops he went through, the hurt felt real. He was not sure how many times he went through that process, it all blended together, and time seemed so fluid and imperceptible inside of the torture. He keeps that to himself, however he has something else on his mind that he needs answers to. He travels down to the lab where Grunkle Ford was busy working on preparing some equipment for his and Stan’s expedition. He knocks on the wall as he enters so as to not spook the old man.

“Ah Dipper, I heard you two were getting your things put away for the bus trip.” Ford said cheerily enough but Dipper can see that he too is a little frazzled by things.

“Yeah, but before we left I had a question I wanted to ask you. Something I think only you should know.” Dipper said as he took a seat. Ford seems taken aback by his nephew’s behavior but he stops his work and joins him. “You’ve been to alternate dimensions right, I read what you added to the Journal.”

Ford nods slowly. “Yes, some are so similar to each other that you could spend a lifetime searching for any distinction. Others so radically different, they defy comprehension.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“So, is it possible to feel what happens in one reality while in another?” Dipper asks, his knee starting to bounce as he hope he can find his answer.

“I don’t see why not, Gravity Falls already is a place where realities brush together. Why does this interest you so much Dipper?” Ford shows concern for the look on Dipper’s face.

“Because I think I brushed against another reality, another possible world. It first happened when I reached into my bag for the Rift. I wondered if I had grabbed Mabel’s bag and I could almost feel like I was going to pull out some party plans she had. Then there was what Bill said, that he had thought he was going to need deception?” Dipper got up and started to pace. “Then later on, I had this feeling that you knew Bill’s secret weakness.”

“Well I knew of the prophecy but that didn’t turn out exactly as planned.” Ford interjects sadly, thinking of all the pain it must have caused Stan with his memory.

“But I also knew that we were going to beat him, it wasn't just hope, it was a solid fact that he was going to be defeated and that it was us; the Pines family, that did it.” Dipper explains. He sees Ford’s face as he contemplates what it means.

“So you saw the ending before we reached it. I don’t know if this was just a result of the Rift, or if perhaps my understanding of the universe we exist in is even more limited than I thought. So you are suggesting that these alternate universes might inform other universes? Like how a writer might inspire another writer?” Ford asks and is relieved to see Dipper’s face break into a relieved smile.

“Exactly. So maybe it can be a good thing, having these different worlds teach other worlds, even if it is subtle. I don’t think we can do anything about it, but it was just a thought digging at me.” Dipper sat down looking like a lot of tension had left his body.

“I must say, your mind is more open and brilliant than even mine may be. Give you enough time and we could be in a world that informs another one how to makes things even greater.” Ford puts his hand on Dipper’s shoulder who seemed abashed by the praise.

“Thanks Grunkle Ford, I hope that I can live up to that.” Dipper said a little overwhelmed.

“Non-sense, you don’t have to. Just live.” Ford then motions for him to go back up and finish his packing.

Dipper zips up his backpack and blinks away tears as he feels ready to move onto the next stage of his life, but in his heart he knew he’d be back. Gravity Falls welcomes everyone.

## The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all once again for joining me on this journey. And thanks again to Reddit user u/busterbrown78 for giving me the idea in the first place. All of your tears and heartache can be forwarded to him. (If you are reading this though, I totally do mean all the thanks and respect. Kudos to you dude.)
> 
> A fun soundtrack if you want to hear some nifty covers of songs you might not have heard before.  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2cemANEPGVFsZ73bfOQceQ?si=Y-fPnaFVScOrNU_nsXhirw


End file.
